Sweet and Sticky Korean Fried Chicken

Great food blogs are meant to be discovered and shared. I met the young and very talented Chung-Ah from Damn Delicious at an event in Los Angeles and fell immediately in love with her work. Hop over to Damn Delicious and you will know what I mean. How can you not love a talented home cook who can bake and also cook (check out her recipe index) very well, plus her food photography are simply mouthwatering and irresistible! Today, she is sharing a very popular Korean recipe with us: sweet and sticky Korean fried chicken wings. Please welcome her to Rasa Malaysia and don’t forget to bookmark her site.

Hi everyone – it’s Chung-Ah from Damn Delicious! I am so incredibly thrilled to be here guest posting for Bee today. I had the amazing opportunity to meet her at a Glam event a couple months back and in all honesty, I was kind of nervous to be around her. After all, she’s a foodie celebrity! But once we started talking, I immediately loved her. She’s incredibly sweet and so down-to-earth, and she comes up with the best recipes! I’ve made a countless number of her recipes, from her honey walnut shrimp and her spam fried rice and they all never failed to deliver.

So when Bee asked me to guest post, I knew I just had to share one of my all-time favorite Korean recipes. It’s actually the boyfriend’s mom’s recipe, one that she’s been making for the past 20 years. And with just 3 ingredients of chicken wings, soy sauce and sugar, these chicken wings will rock your socks off. These babies are double-fried to the most crunchy, crisp texture and then slathered in a reduced soy sauce glaze, leaving these wings to be so incredibly sticky and sweet. I highly recommend doubling the batch for these wings because once you take a bite into the sticky goodness, you won’t be able to stop!

I would urge caution to your readers when cooking with oil at temperatures of 400 degrees F. This is extremely close to the smoke point of most oils. The smoke point of vegetable shortening is 360 degrees F. Virgin olive oil is 420 degrees F. Peanut oil is 440 degrees F. Refined coconut oil is 450 degrees F. After reaching the smoke point the oil can approach the flame point within moments.

For an experienced cook this will not be a problem, however, for an inexperienced cook it is. If you cook with a professional deep fryer with temperature controls, and a high volume vent hood it will not be a problem.

I would advise the use of a candy thermometer when cooking with oil over 350 degrees F. I would like to ask if cooking at 400 degrees F will cook better then cooking at 350 degrees F? Is it worth the risk?

Yes, it is worth the risk, at least in my opinion. The 400 degrees will really get the wings crispy and golden at a higher heat. If you are concerned about getting too close to the smoke point though, I recommend frying at 350 again the second time around for a longer period of time.

You can also use an infrared thermometer. They are very handy to use. Remember you are only looking at the surface of the oil, underneath it is hotter. Try using a candy thermometer in a wok….no can do!

This is a splendid idea of a starter. Thank you for sharing this. It would not be hard to make. In fact, the drummet and buffalo wing sticky sweet sour hot is sure to strike home run while watching the football finals this coming Saturday! Thank you! Arigato! Grasias! Terima Kasih! Torche!

I too, am confused at the temperature change. But I also have a question (and please bare in mind that I have never ever made any type of “hot wings” as I am not a big fan of spicey). Why also do the wings have to be fried twice?

The wings have to be fried twice because the first time around, you’ll cook the chicken all the way through at a low heat. The second time will get them crispy and golden at a higher heat. Hope that helps!

Also another reason for crisping the wings up a second time is that when they are coated in the sauce/seasoning the crispy outer layer will soften slightly. That’s also part of the reason why sweet and sour pork/chicken is often served separated from the gravy in order to not spoil the texture.